Undine
Were I asked, what is a fairytale? I should reply, Read Undine: that is a fairytale ... of all fairytales I know, I think Undine the most beautiful. — George MacDonald, The Fantastic Imagination
Undine is a fairytale novella (Erzählung) by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué in which Undine, a water spirit, marries a knight named Huldbrand in order to gain a soul. Published in 1811, it is an early German romance, which has been translated into English and other languages.
“A knight named Huldbrand comes across a fisherman's hut in the forest, and is welcomed in by the fisherman and his wife. He also meets their capricious eighteen-year-old foster daughter, Undine. The fisherman explains that years ago, their young daughter was lost in the lake and apparently drowned, but that same day, Undine appeared on their doorstep. Since then, they have raised her as their own….”
The story was inspired by the works of the occultist Paracelsus (ca. 1493-1541), who coined the term "undine" (from Lithuanian language word Vandene (water=vanduo)).[1] Paracelsus's Book on Nymphs states that undines can gain an immortal soul by marrying a human. It mentions the French legend of Melusine, in which a water-spirit marries a knight on condition that he shall never see her on Saturdays, when she resumes her mermaid shape, and the German story of Peter von Staufenberg, in which a fairy kills her human lover when he marries another woman.[2]